Jean Schramme
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Jean "Black Jack" Schramme (25 March 1929,
Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
, Belgium – 14 December 1988,
Rondonópolis Rondonópolis (formerly known as Rio Vermelho (Red River)) is the third-largest Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in Mato Grosso, Brazil. It is located around from Cuiabá, the capital of the state. The city is named for military officer and ...
, Brazil) was a
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
and planter. He managed a vast estate in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
until 1967.


Planter

Schramme was born into an upper-middle class family in Bruges, where his father was a successful lawyer. In 1947, Schramme moved to the Belgian Congo at the age of 18, where he worked as an apprentice for a planter. Schramme had a strong entrepreneurial streak and by the age of 22 had already owned his own plantation covering 22 acres at Bafwakwandji in the eastern half of the Belgian Congo. Schramme performed his national service with the ''
Force Publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; nl, Openbare Weermacht) was a gendarmerie and military force in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885 (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of ...
'', which provided him with his military training. Schramme deeply loved Africa and called himself ''un Africian blanc'' ("a white African"). Schramme ran his estate along militaristic lines, having a very authoritarian and paternalistic leadership style as he took to calling himself a ''père'' ("father") to his black African workers. Schramme thought that he understood the Congo far better than the Congolese, and believed that the country should remain a Belgian colony forever. He hated the '' évolués'' (Western-educated Congolese) who for him were not real Congolese at all; his ideal Congolese were his workers on his estate who called him ''père''. In Schramme's viewpoint, he and the other Belgian settlers should provide the strict, but loving paternalistic care that he believed was what the Congolese needed.


Congo Crisis

In January 1959, riots erupted as hundreds of thousands of Congolese took to the streets to demand independence, which led the Belgian state to agree that the Belgian Congo would become independent on 30 June 1960. Unwilling to accept Congolese independence, in the spring of 1960, Schramme started to stockpile arms and ammunition while he attached metal plates and a machinegun to his car to create a makeshift armored car. On 30 June 1960, the Belgian Congo was granted independence, and shortly afterwards the Congolese Army mutinied against the Belgian officers who had been placed in charge owing to the lack of Congolese officers. With the Congo falling into chaos, Schramme provided an armed guard to move Belgian settlers into the British colony of Uganda. Schramme claimed to have been arrested twice and to have seen 8 white settlers hanged without a trial, through the historian Christopher Othen noted that Schramme was prone to lies and exaggerations, and his accounts might very well be fabrications. Schramme himself fled to Uganda, where he heard about the
State of Katanga The State of Katanga; sw, Inchi Ya Katanga) also sometimes denoted as the Republic of Katanga, was a breakaway state that proclaimed its independence from Congo-Léopoldville on 11 July 1960 under Moise Tshombe, leader of the local ''Co ...
led by
Moise Tshombe Moise is a given name and surname, with differing spellings in its French and Romanian origins, both of which originate from the name Moses: Moïse is the French spelling of Moses, while Moise is the Romanian spelling. As a surname, Moisè and Mo ...
. Schramme went to Katanga to fight as a mercenary and to reestablish himself as a planter in Africa, having abandoned his estate. In the spring of 1961, Schramme enlisted in ''Groupe Mobile E'' , a mercenary unit commanded by a hard-drinking Scotsman, Robert Chambers, who called himself Louis Chamois, and whose French was atrocious. Schramme was not impressed with Chambers, whom he stated: "At first glance, I thought I was dealing with a double crazy drunk. He pretended to be an officer, but he was interested in nothing more than his bottle and his revolver". The ''Groupe Mobile E'' had a terrible reputation for cruelty with one Belgian settler, Frans Heymans, complaining in May 1961 of "the brutalities at the hands of Chamois and his men". Schramme was furious when the United Nations ordered the Belgian settlers out of Katanga, writing in 1969: "The United Nations had imposed their orders on Tshombe, not a single white in the Katangese administration or army. You cannot imagine a more racist decision. We were being expelled on the basis of the color of our skin." Schramme was arrested by Swedish soldiers serving as United Nations peacekeepers and expelled to Belgium on 17 September 1961 as a troublemaker. Schramme spent several weeks in Belgium, and then went to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe), which he purchased the book ''Quotations from Chairman Mao'' to "know his enemy" as he phrased it. Schramme then returned to Katanga. During his time in Southern Rhodesia, Schramme had recruited several of the white British and South African settlers to come with him to fight for Katanga. In October 1961, Schramme took the town of Kisamba from the Congolese, proudly reporting his small unit had just routed two battalions of the ''Armée Nationale Congolaise'', owing to their superior discipline. Schramme's claims to have taken Kisamba were not believed at first, leading him to ask if he should give Kismba back to the ''Armée Nationale Congolaise'' if they did not believe that his out-numbered force could had defeated two battalions on its own. Schramme was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Following the final defeat of Katanga, in January-February 1963, Schramme led a force of about 400 Katangese gendarmes into Angola. In 1964, the Simba rebellion erupted and the entire eastern half of the Congo was taken by the Simba rebels while the ''Armée Nationale Congolaise'' disintegrated. Believing that he needed the support of the West, the army commander, General
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the List of heads of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, presiden ...
persuaded President
Joseph Kasa-Vubu Joseph Kasa-Vubu, alternatively Joseph Kasavubu, ( – 24 March 1969) was a Congolese politician who served as the first President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) from 1960 until 1965. A member of the Kong ...
to appoint Tshombe premier on 9 July 1964. Tshombe, who used had mercenaries extensively as the leader of Katanga brought back the same mercenaries that he had used to fight against the Congo to now fight for the Congo. Schramme was one of the mercenaries whom Tshombe recruited to fight for the Congo, crossing over from the Portuguese colony of Angola. Schramme commanded the Batabwa group, which operated independently of the Lunda group commanded by another mercenary, Ferdinand Tshipola, a sitatuion of affairs that owned to personal rivalries between Schramme and Tshipola than ethnic rivalries between the Batabaw and Lunda peoples.


The Revolt of the Mercenaries

In 1965, General Mobutu became president and from then on Belgium started protecting his regime against rebellion. Mobutu immediately began to
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
the former government ministers of Congo. Mobutu had long disliked the white mercenaries in his country as reflecting an adverse comment upon his military competence, and over the course of 1966 and the first half of 1967 steadily reduced the number of mercenaries. From December 1966 to July 1967,the number of mercenaries in the Congo had been reduced from about 650 down to 189 as Mobutu paid the last of their wages and then send them home. In June 1967, the French mercenary
Bob Denard Robert Denard (born Gilbert Bourgeaud; 7 April 1929 – 13 October 2007) was a French soldier of fortune and mercenary. He served as the Military Leader of The Comoros twice with him first serving from 13 May 1978 to 15 December 1989 and again ...
warned Schramme that Mobutu was planning to dissolve the last of mercenary units, which provided the impetus for a plan to restore Tshombe. On 30 June 1967 president Moise Tshombe's
jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...
was
hijacked Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''like ...
en route to
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, before he could return to Congo after his exile in Spain. He was imprisoned in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
and two years later he died in suspicious circumstances. For Schramme, this was a sign that he was fighting the wrong enemy and on 3 July 1967 he began to lead an uprising in the Tshopo province against Mobutu along with fellow mercenaries Denard and Jerry Puren. According to Puren the uprising was part of a plan to restore Tshombe to power but derailed by the hijacking: the mercenaries planned to move south and link up with Katangan exiles crossing from Angola. This was known as the Mercenaries Revolt.
Jack Malloch John McVicar Malloch ICD, was a South African-born Rhodesian bush pilot, gun-runner and ''sanctions-buster'' who flew in World War II and in various legal and illegal roles around Africa and the Middle East until the early 1980s. in 1978, h ...
, the Rhodesian pilot and gun-runner, supported Schramme's forces with flights supplying him with weapons. On the morning of 5 July 1967 10 Commando ANC, Schramme's unit, launched surprise attacks on Stanleyville, Kindu, and Bukavu. Schramme led the attack on the army's barracks at Stanleyville, leading a force of 11 white mercenaries and about 100 Katangese in the assault. The attack killed hundreds of Congolese soldiers and their families, leading to the wrathful Congolese to execute 30 mercenaries not involved in the coup attempt. The attack that Schramme planned was described as "badly executed" as he behaved with over-confidence in believing that his small force would be enough to take Stanleyville. The Congolese fought back and within a week, Schramme had been forced to retreat from Stanleyville. Schramme tried to take control of Stanleyville, Congo. Defeated, his force retreated south into Kivu provinece. By August 10, his troops conquered the border town of
Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu pr ...
and had grown considerably in number. Schramme was able to hold Bukavu for seven weeks and managed to defeat all
ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
troops who were sent to retake the town. The ANC suffered from a lack of artillery and was frustrated and demotivated over its continuous losses.. By accident, some ANC
T-28 The T-28 was a Soviet multi-turreted medium tank. The prototype was completed in 1931, and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The T-28 was designed to complement the hea ...
flying missions even attacked their own troops instead of Schramme's. The shortages of ammunition were a major problem for the ANC, but Schramme's forces suffered from even greater shortages of ammunition as the expected support from abroad failed to arrive. Extra forces including the elite 2nd Parachute Brigade helped the ANC to finally defeat Schramme on 29 October 1967. The surviving rebel troops fled into
Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
. A number of Katangese gendarmes fled into Angola, where they retained their loyalty to the Mwaant Yav, the traditional king of the Lunda people. The exiles were recruited by the Portuguese colonial authorities to fight against the Angolan guerrillas. Thomas Tshombe, the brother of Moise Tshombe and the current reigning Mwaant Yav, pressed for Schramme to be placed in charge of the Katangese exiles in Angola, a request refused by the Portuguese authorities who did not want such a well-known man in Angola.


Later life

On 24 April 1968 Schramme and all the other European mercenaries returned to
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. Almost 20 years later, on 17 April 1986, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a murder. Schramme was not living in Belgium at the time of the sentence: he died in 1988 in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Schramme was played by the French actor Aladin Reibel in the 2011 film ''
Mister Bob Mister Bob is a 2011 French drama film directed and co-scripted by Thomas Vincent. Plot The film follows the exploits of the French mercenary Bob Denard in the Congo between 1964 and 1967. The story begins in July 1967 with Denard who has just s ...
''.


See also

*
Mike Hoare Thomas Michael Hoare (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020), known as Mad Mike Hoare, was a British mercenary soldier who operated during the Simba rebellion, and attempted to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles. Early life and military car ...


Books

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Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schramme 1929 births 1988 deaths Belgian Congo people Belgian emigrants to Brazil Belgian mercenaries Belgian people convicted of murder Deaths from cancer in Mato Grosso Democratic Republic of the Congo anti-communists Belgian anti-communists Democratic Republic of the Congo exiles Belgian expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo People convicted of murder by Belgium Military personnel from Bruges People of the Congo Crisis Belgian expatriates in Brazil 20th-century Belgian criminals